One form of pocket knife has the blade movable with respect to a handle for storage and for general carry. A traditional type of knife is a folding knife wherein the blade is pivotally attached to the handle. Folded knives are very effective and have a plurality of types of assisted opening technologies applied thereto, and further have various types of locking mechanisms to lock the blade open. Folded knives run the liability of having the knife closing upon the fingers of the knife handler. It is well known in the art of folding knives that the sharp edge portion folds towards the handle and towards an interior longitudinal slot to store the blade therein.
Another type of knife is an “Out the Front” (OTF) opening mechanism whereby the blade extends longitudinally forward with respect to the handle so as to provide a forward opening knife.
Certain actuating mechanisms have been employed, such as the OTF knife as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,305,769. This particular knife has a type of actuating system that allows the blade to be projected forward, and there are two actuators on either side of the blade whereby stored energy upon an activating switch provides a forward thrust and a rearward thrust.
Switchblade knives are well-known in the art of knives whereby stored energy by way of a spring or other type of spring-like mechanism is utilized to accelerate a blade open, such as with the folding type of knife design. Switchblades are a controlled type of mechanism within most jurisdictions. In general, a switchblade will have some type of an actuator, such as a button, which can have an internal seer-like mechanism to release the stored energy to rotate a blade open.
Assisted opening technologies have been utilized for certain types of folding blades. In general, an assisted opening technology is not a controlled mechanism but rather the user actually imparts a force directly to the blade to provide an opening force thereupon. Assisted technology in swingable foldable knives is a term that signifies that an operator has to manually move the blade a certain predetermined amount in order for a spring and or mechanism to help in propelling it to its fully extended position. This has never been done before in OTF type knives.